Colombian coal mine blast kills 11:

A powerful explosion in a coal mine in central Colombia that affected four other mines linked by tunnels has killed at least 11 people and left 10 others missing, the government said Wednesday. President Gustavo Petro said on his Twitter account that rescuers were making every effort to reach the trapped miners. The blast took place Tuesday night in the municipality of Sutatausa in Cundinamarca province. Energy and Mines Minister Irene Vélez said the blast occurred when highly explosive methane gas ignited, Vélez said.

German police conduct raids against suspected people smugglers: German police on Wednesday conducted raids against a group suspected of smuggling about 90 people into the country, making five arrests, authorities said. More than 20 apartments and offices in Berlin and the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt were searched, along with three vehicles and a bank safe in the Bavarian town of Hof, police and prosecutors in the German capital said in a joint statement. Five men were arrested, four of them in Berlin and one in the city of Halle. The group is suspected of bringing about 90 people, mostly from Turkey and Iraq, to Germany between October 2019 and January of this year, with migrants paying up to $10,500 to be smuggled by car or truck.